Motor too hot to touch on Mini Max BS. Normal?

[dirk martin]

My 10 year old Minimax MM24 bandsaw's motor gets too hot to touch, after about a 1/2 hour of resawing 8" wide Silver Maple. Is that normal? It keeps chugging along with no issues.

[Bill Orbine]

Some motor get hot, some don't. 1/2 hour re-sawing 8" maple will stress the motor to work harder. If in doubt, a bad connection anywhere from breaker panel to motor could be the culprit... others can chime in.

[David Kumm]

Bearings could be going. Euro motors run hot but too hot to touch is too hot. Look at the frame size and hp. Euro machines tend to pack more wire into a frame size to acheive hp which causes the motor to run hot too. You can have it tested pretty cheaply or replace bearings and see if that helps. Low cost fix. Dave

[dirk martin]

So, could I pull that motor off, and put on say....a 7hp new motor...like the one on my Woodmaster?

[David Kumm]

That will be a metric frame motor rather than nema. Unless the pulleys are sheaved you would need to match the frame size to get the proper diameter shaft or swap pulleys. Look at the motor plate. Many of the SCMI motors are FIMEC Italian and cheaper to rewind than replace. Depends on your motor shop. Some don't like dealing with Euro motors and charge too much. Rewinding if it comes to that will be 400-500 best case. Leeson makes metric frame motors ( probably in China ) and they will cost about the same. Motor might be fine though. Spend $25 and get it tested. Dave

[Rod Sheridan]

yes that is normal. What you consider hot is not even close to the operating temperature for the motor.

[Duane Meadows]

yes that is normal. What you consider hot is not even close to the operating temperature for the motor.

+1. If in doubt I would recommend a non contact thermometer and check the actual temp against the name plate rating... then you will know for sure! Also check the amperage draw to be sure it is in spec. If both of these are in spec, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Art Mann]

It is hard for me to believe that an OEM motor on such a quality saw would not have thermal overload protection. If it didn't shut down, it didn't get too hot. Simple as that.

[Erik Loza]

It is hard for me to believe that an OEM motor on such a quality saw would not have thermal overload protection. If it didn't shut down, it didn't get too hot. Simple as that.

This ^^^

All our motors will have thermal overload protection. I was working with a customer's bandsaw not too long ago and the motor got too hot to comfortably touch. As Dave mentioned, some will get hotter the others but as long as the machine is not shutting down, nothing to really worry about. Hope this helps,

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[mreza Salav]

Motors on many of my machines get too hot to touch after using them for a while (drum sander with a US made motor, power feeder, band saw, etc)

[HANK METZ]

yes that is normal. What you consider hot is not even close to the operating temperature for the motor.



Today's motors do in fact run hotter than the ones of just a few decades ago. If I'm going to run my shop compressor for an extended period like spraying, I'll set a small fan blowing across the motor and pump, more for my peace of mind I guess than anything that's actually needed.

[David Kumm]

I agree that motors run hotter now. Smaller frame and better insulation. Heat will still shorten the life though. Especially the bearings. Smaller frame motors are built with a 25 year life span if not used continuously but bearing failure is a big cause of failure. I'd still watch a hot motor. A half hour of constant use should make them very warm but your hand should still be able to touch for at least a few seconds. I have about 40 machines dating from the 1920s and as much as I like high end Euro, I've had more rewinds with 20 year old Euro than 50 year old NEMA. Dave